SHAUN HILL was crowned Cardiff University Snooker Club Masters Champion after defeating top seed Ben Chung 3 – 2 in the season ending finale.
The result also meant that Chung missed out on being the overall Club Champion, with Neil Fairbrother claiming the accolade by just two points.
Hill almost exited the tournament in the last-16, pipping Dom Osborne on the final black of a deciding frame. In the quarter finals, Hill defeated third seed Joe Merola 2 – 0 with a 35 break. His semi final opponent was Fairbrother, who had to overcome David Eames in the quarter-final. Fairbrother battled hard but Hill was the victor in two close frames, leaving Fairbrother with a nail biting wait to see if he would be crowned Club champion.
In the other half of the draw top seed Chung won 2 – 0 over qualifier Craig Nunes before a tricky quarter final against Ben Davies, another deciding frame black ball winner over Jon Hilliard. Chung put in a good performance to win 2 – 0. Talented fresher David Blake defeated Huw Davies 2 – 1 in an entertaining quarter final to book a semi-final match up with Chung who knew that he needed to win the tournament to be crowned Club Champion ahead of Fairbrother. Chung again rose to the challenge with an impressive 2 – 0 victory.
Chung took the opening frame of the final before Hill took control of the next two to move 2 – 1 ahead. Chung managed to force a decider with a dogged performance in frame four. But it was to no avail as Hill saved his best to last, early runs of 29 and 22 helped him to a 64 – 0 lead and there was no way back for Chung.
It was a successful end to the season for the snooker club, which can now look forward to the next academic year with the new Cuefactor League and the continuation of the established Cardiff University Open Series (CUOS).
